


Like Red Neon

by Thatoneloser_kid



Category: Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. (TV)
Genre: F/F, Skye as the Scarlet Witch
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2015-05-13
Updated: 2015-06-17
Packaged: 2018-03-30 08:06:01
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 5
Words: 16,502
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/3929266
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Thatoneloser_kid/pseuds/Thatoneloser_kid
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>After being released from the HYDRA base that she had been kept in, and experimented on, since she was a child Skye gets brought to The Playground where Jemma seems to be the only one willing to give her a chance.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> After seeing Age of Ultron (twice) I really wanted to write something with Skye as the Scarlet Witch. I have changed it slightly from the movie but there are still spoilers so don't read if you haven't seen the movie yet.

"We have a new shipment coming in," Bobbi announced, her eyes glued to the tablet in her hand as she strutted into the conference room. 

 

"I really wish you would stop calling it that." Jemma sighed, averting her eyes to the TV that was now displaying the information Bobbi had been looking at on her tablet. 

 

"This is Skye Johnson." Bobbi started, pointing to the picture on the top right corner. 

 

"She's an enhanced?" Hunter asked, arching her eyebrows approvingly at the photo, glancing at Tripp who gave him a little nod of agreement. 

 

"One of the best and most dangerous we've seen." Bobbi explained, "The Avengers found her at the HYDRA base that was harboring Loki's scepter. Strucker referred to her in his files as the Scarlet Witch."

 

"Strucker?" Fitz arched her eyebrows curiously. "Like, HYDRA's top thug Strucker?"

 

"One in the same." Bobbi agreed, tapping on Skye's file to reveal all the information that had on her. "HYDRA kidnapped her as a kid, she's lived in a cell at that base for fifteen years."

 

"Was she enhanced before?" 

 

"No. She was an ordinary kid, born in Hawaii, her mom was a single parent of her and her twin brother, Lincoln. Lincoln was taken, too, both of them were the only two out of hundreds that were strong enough to endure the pain and... Power of the experiments Strucker performed on them. Lincoln was killed in action by Ultron."

 

"What did they do to them?"

 

"There isn't any files on what exactly was done to them but we do know it involved one of the six infinity stones, the Mind Stone. What every they did to her, it changed her from a normal kid to what she is now."

 

"Which is?" Jemma frowned. 

 

"She is now telekinetic and has the ability to manipulate energy but that's not all." Bobbi swiped at the tablet until she reached the last page. The words the instantly caught Jemma's attention was _'tore the avengers apart'_. 

 

"What does that mean? Tore the avengers apart?" Jemma asked, motioning towards the TV, averting her eyes to Bobbi. 

 

"She has the ability to look inside your head without you even knowing it, she can dig around until she finds your deepest fears then she will play up on them, make you believe you are living those fears." Bobbi explained and the entire group was hanging over her every word. "That what she done to the Avengers. Left Romanoff, Cap, Thor and Banner useless. Shook Stark up pretty badly, too."

 

"Then why the hell are they bringing her to us?" Hunter asked incredulously, looking around the table as if to make sure he wasn't the only one who found this ridiculous and, judging by the look on Mack and Tripp's face, he wasn't.

 

"We have a holding cell here for her, we will be holding her for a while. Cap claims she isn't hostile anymore but we still have to be careful.

 

"It is always the cute ones you gotta look out for, man." Tripp sighed, shaking his head. 

 

"I don't get why they just don't kill her," Mack commented, gaining a disapproving look from Jemma. 

 

"She is powerful, we could use her on our side."

 

"There is a reason she wanted to attack the Avengers in the first place, that doesn't just go away. Surely it would be easier to have her dead than risk not being able to convert her to our side." Mack reasoned. 

 

"We cannot just kill anyone who refuses to comply with us." Jemma argued. 

 

"We can if they are a threat." Hunter disagreed. 

 

"When is she getting here?" Fitz queried, folding his arms on the table in front of him and stooping down to rest his chin on his arms, obvious a little uncomfortable with the argument. 

 

"She should be here within the next couple of minutes." Bobbi explained, pointing towards Jemma with the edge of her tablet. "I need you to come down with me, there are samples of her blood coming in with her and I need you to test them."

 

"For what?"

 

"Anything abnormal. We have no idea how this was even possible." Bobbi nodded her head towards the door before making a move to leave. 

 

Jemma rushed to follow after her, her little legs working harder to keep up with Bobbi. "Do you think she will take our side?"

 

"I hope so," Bobbi stated, leading Jemma to the garage area of The Playground.

 

Skye was already their waiting for them, surrounded by five burly guys with night night guns. Jemma's eyes fell to Skye's wrists and ankles that were shackled together, giving the woman just barely enough wiggle room. 

 

"Are the shackles really necessary?" Jemma sighed, motioning towards the chains that held Skye's ankles and wrists. 

 

A little grin appeared on the girls lips as she strained the chains gently. "Don't worry, cutie, I could easily get out of these. I just don't want to emasculate these guys, they like to feel powerful." Skye glanced at the burly men behind her, pouting sympathetically at them. "It's adorable, really."

 

Jemma's lips twitched as she tried not to smile at the scowl on the men's faces. Bobbi didn't look as amused.

 

"Miss Johnson, I'm..."

 

"Bobbi Morse. Mockingbird, I know who you are."

 

Jemma's eyebrows raised in surprise as she turned to look up at Bobbi whose jaw was set. 

 

"Ok, I think these are for me," Jemma announced awkwardly, reaching for the plastic container one of the men was carrying.

 

"Do I know you?" Skye asked, her head tilted slightly to the left. 

 

Jemma brought her eyes back to Skye, shaking her head lightly. She should be intimidated, right? This woman rendered the Avengers useless but she wasn't intimidated. "I don't think so,"

 

The woman's eyes flashed red for a brief moment, Jemma wanted to ask what she was doing, if she was poking around inside her head and, if so, _why_  but Bobbi stepped in front of her before she could. "Don't even, you understand?"

 

Skye's curious look morphed into a cocky grin, her chin lifting as she leveled her eyes on Bobbi. "Stop me then."

 

Jemma peered around Bobbi to look at Skye, she wasn't afraid in the slightest, even though she was in Bobbi's territory, surrounded by Bobbi's men. But Jemma knew Bobbi wasn't scared either, regardless of the amount of men she had with her fear wasn't even in Bobbi's emotional spectrum. 

 

"This is more testosterone fueled than when Mack and Tripp fight." Jemma commented quietly, smiling innocently up at Bobbi when she turned to glare at her. "O-kay, I'll just get to work."

 

"Come to me as soon as you have results,"

 

Jemma nodded, turning and walking back towards the lab. 

 

"If you find that I'm susceptible to any kind of genetic conditions let me know, will ya?"

 

Jemma glanced over her shoulder to see Skye peeking around Bobbi, a smug grin on her lips. 

 

"I think genetic conditions may be the least of your worries, considering you were bombarded with the radiation from an infinity stone."

 

"I'm not dead," Skye quickly glanced up at Bobbi, returning her gaze back to Jemma. "Yet." 

 

"Yet is the operative word there," Jemma commented, looking at Bobbi when the taller woman turned to give at a strange look. "You should behave." Jemma added before rushing off. 

 

 _'Careful, wouldn't want you going all Bruce Banner if you accidentally spill come of that blood on you.'_ A voice inside her head commented, sounding almost playful. 

 

At first Jemma thought maybe it was her own subconscious warning her but it wasn't her voice. She knew exactly whose voice it was when she heard Bobbi snap, "Get out of her head."

 

Jemma was entirely sure if it was a teasing or a warning, she wasn't even sure if she could trust this woman after all, but she decided to take it as the latter. 

 

Jemma studied the bloody for hours, not able to fine any structural differences in the cells, or in the formation of the bloody. Everything was normal and it was driving Jemma crazy. 

 

Sighing, Jemma ran her fingers in to her hair and leant her elbows on the table, eyeing smear of red on the microscope slide in front of her. The only difference was a slightly elevated white blood cell count but it was nothing significant. 

 

Then the idea came to her, Skye may have warned her about getting irradiated, she wanted to find out if that was true. She picked up a small amount of blood in a dropper and carefully walked over to the mice cages, dropping a single drop onto one of their backs and the results happened instantly, the small mice curling up into a ball and squeaking in pain for a few seconds before it went still. 

 

This didn't make sense. How could her blood to that to other living organisms but not to Skye. 

 

Jemma carefully cleaned everything up, setting the samples in the fridge before heading down stairs towards Skye's holding cell. 

 

"You warned me." Jemma announced as she entered the room, walking towards Skye's cell but stopped a few feet away. "How did you know?"

 

"A dude who worked at the base I was raised in spilt a little blood on him once, I'm talking a single drop. It seeped through his skin and irradiated him from the inside out. Liquified his internal organs within half a minute." Skye shrugged nonchalantly, setting the table she had been playing with down gently as she looked at Jemma. 

 

"Then why isn't it doing that with you," Jemma frowned, motioning towards Skye as she walked a little closer to the glass of the woman's cell. "You have the exact same biological structures as any of us."

 

"I don't know."

 

Jemma frowned curiously, running her finger across her bottom lip as she thought, her hand falling away from her mouth to point over at Skye when she got an idea. "You were born in Hawaii, correct?"

 

"Yeah."

 

"And your mom?"

 

"She was too, along with her parents and their parents." 

 

"I mean, that could be it," Jemma murmured.

 

"Do I have to get all up inside your head to know what you're talking about?"

 

"Well, Hawaii is a volcano, it could have a higher level of natural radiation, which would have gradually exposed generations to radiation. That could have resulted in you, younger generations in general, being less susceptible to radiation poisoning." Jemma explained, shaking her head to herself, running her hand through her hair. "No, I don't think it would have prevented you from being killed from the level of radiation present in that mind stone. It would be a minuscule difference, if any."

 

"They hooked me up to a drip when I was a kid, it made me sick for days after." Skye commented, gaining Jemma's attention again.

 

"What do you mean?" Jemma quarried. 

 

"Do you want me to show you?"

 

Jemma's eyebrows raised in surprise, narrowing her eyes skeptically. "Show me?"

 

Skye nodded, walking to stand right in front of the glass, wiggling the middle and ring finger of her now glowing red hand, motioning for Jemma to walk forwards. 

 

She didn't.

 

She didn't want to feel like she was under Skye's control. 

 

"I'm not sure that's a good idea."

 

"I won't do anything to hurt you, I just want to show you my memory of what happened." 

 

Jemma swallowed, taking a few more steps towards the glass. "I don't trust you."

 

"I don't blame you," Skye nodded, "But I know if I do anything to hurt you your bean stalk will come after me. She has a little sweet spot for you and the little Scottish kid."

 

Jemma glanced over her shoulder towards the door, walking over until she was right in front of the glass. "I can't open the door."

 

"You don't have too,"

 

Jemma frowned, reaching out to tentatively place her pointer finger against the glass. "You can do it through the glass?"

 

Skye chuckled, sending a little red spark into Jemma's finger causing the girl to squeal, in surprise more than pain, and jerk her hand back. 

 

"If you can do that then why haven't you attacked anyone who has came down here. Brainwashed them to let you go."

 

"I'm a lover not a fighter, doctor Simmons."

 

"The Avengers would disagree." Jemma murmured can eyeing Skye glowing hand. "It won't hurt?"

 

"No, not having it done."

 

Jemma swallowed and gave Skye a little nod. 

 

"Are you sure? It won't hurt getting done but the memory may hurt a little." 

 

"Yeah, no, I'm sure." Jemma assured, giving Skye a more reassuring nod. 

 

"Ok," Skye agreed, her now blood red eyes staring straight into Jemma's as she lifted her hands up, the stream of what looked like red neon floated through the glass and towards Jemma. 

 

Everything around her seemed to fade away and was instantly replaced with a muggy, damp room. 

 

_She was sitting in a hard wooden chair, her arms pinning against the wooden arms by straps around her wrist._

 

_She frowned curiously down at her hands, they were tiny, along with her legs, they didn't even reach the ground._

 

_"Don't worry, Skye, we won't hurt you."_

 

_Her eyes flickered up to the man towering over her, his beady, green eyes peering at her over his crescent moon glasses._

 

_"No," Came Skye's voice, slightly higher than it was not due to her young age, pulling at the restraints when she noticed the IV needle in his hand. "Don't. Please."_

 

_She struggled some more, attempting to break free but someone held onto her arm to allow the man to slid the IV into her vein. "No, get off!"_

 

_She stopped fighting when she realised it was useless, her head falling to the side as she watched a blue liquid run through the tube and into her veins._

 

_She felt her head start to spin and her heart begin to thump loudly against her rib cage. Then, within a few seconds, there was a sharp, searing pain in down either side of her skull, into her temple, and down her spinal cord causing her to cry out in pain._

 

"Jem, Jemma, hey," a voice broke through the fog of the memory. "Skye, _stop_!"

 

Jemma gasped in a breath when the memory was suddenly gone, her hands grasping at anything to keep her standing. 

 

"Super soldiers." Jemma breathed, using Bobbi's arms to keep her up right. "They were trying to create super soldiers."

 

"What are you talking about?" Bobbi frowned. 

 

Jemma wheels around to point at Skye, who looked slightly sheepish. "The blue stuff they injected you with, it's a variation of the serum they gave Steve Rogers." Jemma explained to Skye before turning back to Bobbi. "I think they are trying to create super soldiers, or something like it," Jemma motioned back at Skye. "Something better."

 

"That can't be. The last time they tried to recreate the serum we ended up with the hulk."

 

"Who ended up like that as a result of gamma radiation," Jemma said, pointing back at Skye. "She withstood the radiation from an _infinity stone_."

 

"I will look into it." Bobbi nodded, leveling her hard eyes on Skye. "You need to stay out of her head!"

 

"Bobbi," Jemma sighed, sounding exhausted, all of her energy being completely drained from Skye's memory. Jemma couldn't even begin imagine what this girl had been through. 

 

"No, you were in pain, Jemma. I could hear it in your voice."

 

"She was helping us. I know now, I know the reason she survived," Jemma said, glancing over her shoulder at Skye who was looking at her through her eyelashes, looking somewhat vulnerable. "I'm so sorry."

 

Skye just shook her head, averting her eyes away from the duo. 

 

"Come on, Jemma," Bobbi gently placed her hand on Jemma's upper back but Jemma didn't budge. 

 

"I want to stay down her for a little bit."

 

"No, go." Skye said, her eyes hard, her jaw set. A completely different girl from the one who came in. "Whatever it is you want to talk about I don't want to talk about it."

 

Jemma eyed Skye for a few seconds before nodding, sluggishly trailing after Bobbi as they left the room. 

 

"What was that?" Bobbi asked as soon as they entered the lab, Jemma falling down into the closest seat, her body completely void of any energy but her mind was reeling, going over what she had seen. It _felt_ like one of her own memories, she knew it wasn't, Skye had just implanted it in her mind but it felt real, like she had lived it, and Jemma was terrified by it. "Jemma?"

 

Jemma focused her eyes on Bobbi, "She's been through so much and we have her locked up down there."

 

"What did she show you?"

 

"What they gave her to help her deal with their experiments." Jemma ran her fingers through her hair. "It was so painful, Bobbi, I _felt_  it. I've never felt anything like that before, and she was just a _child_  when it happened."

 

"How do you know what she showed you was real?"

 

"You can't just conjure up that kind of pain," Jemma whispered. "They are working on super soldiers to compete with the avengers and they have succeeded if Skye and her brother are anything to go by."

 

"Where would they have gotten it from?"

 

"I have no idea," Jemma sighed, gently massaging her forehead. 

 

"Why did you let her do that?"

 

Jemma shrugged lightly. "I trust her, Bobbi. At least enough to know she isn't going to hurt us."

 

"We can't let her out."

 

"At least stop treating her like she is a prisoner of war."

 

"I don't know what she did to you..."

 

"She didn't do anything," Jemma sighed. "It's just that she was raised in a cage, I don't like that we are doing the same to her."

 

"Until we know she isn't a threat we don't have much of a choice."

 

Jemma just nodded, smiling at Bobbi when the woman told her she was going to and talk to Coulson about the serum. 

 

Jemma just didn't understand why Skye was still here. She could easily manipulate anyone who went down there but, even if she didn't want to do that, Jemma suspected she could easily crush the cell she was in, even if it was composed of adamantium. 

 

She decided to read up a little more on Skye, find out what exactly happened during the fight she and her brother had with the Avengers and Ultron. 

 

But she needed a nap first.  

 


	2. Chapter 2

"I've been reading up on you," Jemma started, sitting down cross legged in front of Skye's cell, ignoring the way Skye's eyes followed her attentively. 

 

"Doctor Simmons, what would agent Morse think?" Skye gasped teasingly but Jemma ignored her, rapping her knuckles against the metal of Skye's cell. 

 

"This is, what? Adamantium?"

 

Skye tilted her head a little to the left, narrowing her eyes curiously at Jemma. "I dunno, I don't make it."

 

"Second toughest metal on earth, after vibranium."

 

"So?"

 

"You fought Stark's iron legion, who are made of adamantium, you bent them completely out of shape. My question is; why aren't you doing that now? You could get out of this cell easily. You could walk out of the Playground without having to do anything but mess with a couple of guard's minds. Why haven't you?"

 

The little grin didn't leave Skye's lips as she stared over at Jemma, her brown eyes glowing red briefly before she frowned. "Water. You are afraid of water."

 

Jemma shot up, backing up from Skye's cell. "You're not getting inside my head, not like that. Not after yesterday."

 

Skye's smug little grin didn't falter as she narrowed her eyes at Jemma. "I've already been in, I know more about your entire team than you guys know about each other."

 

Jemma's jaw clenched. "I came down here to see you because I don't like that they are keeping you in here! We should be different from HYDRA, we don't want to treat people like this but I get it now. I understand why they put you in there but I don't understand why you are _still_  in there."

 

"Do you want me to break out? Do you want me to manipulate your entire team, have them tell everyone their dirty little secrets?" Skye narrowed her eyes as she stood up from her bed, hands pressed against the glass. She looked crazy, like a completely different girl from the one Jemma had spoken to yesterday, but what else could Jemma expect? She had been locked up, subjected to painful experiments and lost her brother, Jemma wouldn't be surprised if the whole spilt personality thing was something Skye had conjured up in her mind, something to help her deal with everything she had been through. 

 

"I'm not afraid of you, Skye."

 

Skye's head tilted again, her eyes flashing red before she whispered, almost curiously, "You're not."

 

"You might think everyone is against you, your brother was _killed_  but that wasn't us, that Ultron."

 

" _You_ ," Skye growled, her hands, now glowing red, slamming against the glass in front of her. "Don't get to talk about him. This is Stark's fault. He is the reason my brother is dead."

 

Jemma flinched, considering backing down, angering Skye probably wouldn't do any of them any good, but Jemma needed to make her point. "You know what? Sure, Stark was the reason Ultron was unleashed but that's the extent of his contribution. HYDRA were working on the same thing and I can guarantee you they would have used it to destroy the planet." Jemma snapped back, glancing up into Skye's eyes but looked away quickly when she noticed they were shinning red. "If you truly believed it was Stark's fault you would have killed him by now."

 

Skye's hands slid down the glass, hanging limp by her side. Jemma took the fact that they weren't glowing anymore as a good sign so she looked up into Skye's eyes, relieved to be met with brown instead of red. 

 

"We're the good guys."

 

"You almost lost someone to HYDRA, to some extent you did." Skye commented and Jemma shifted uncomfortably. "The Scottish kid, right? You were both almost killed, that's why you are so afraid of water, you never used to be."

 

"We want to help you, Skye, and you want our help, if you didn't you wouldn't still be here." Jemma stated, ignoring the way the hairs on the back of her neck stood on end at Skye's comments, and walked towards Skye's cell. 

 

Skye grinned, her teeth pressing into her bottom lip. "I like you, no one has ever spoken to me like that."

 

"If you like me then stop poking around inside my head."

 

"Sometimes I can't help it," Skye confessed, and though he confident demeanour remained her voice wavered slightly. "Since Lincoln was killed sometimes it feels like I'm back at square one, back to when my powers were new."

 

Jemma frowned thoughtfully before tilting her head. "You're scared, aren't you? That why you haven't left, you're afraid of what you will do."

 

"No, I'm not scared, I just don't want to hurt any innocent people. When he was killed I felt it. I killed innocent people because they were close by." 

 

God, Jemma couldn't help but feel sorry for this woman.

 

"What happened?" Jemma asked carefully, slowly lowering herself on to the floor in front of the glass.

 

"It felt like I had been killed. And I know that sounds ridiculous but I happened, I felt like my heart had just been torn out and I lost it, I sent ball of energy out at every angle, three-sixty degrees, killing at least ten people." Skye explained, pacing in front of the glass a few times before deciding to sit down. 

 

"You didn't do that out of malice."

 

"That's irrelevant, I just wanted to protect people from Ultron, from _Stark_ , and I ended up killing them."

 

"I'm sorry that that happened, and I'm sorry your brother lost his life, but I can promise you that SHIELD are the good guys."

 

"Yeah," Skye murmured, "Well, everyone thinks they're the good guys."

 

Jemma pursed her lips and nodded, "You know what we do, Skye, you've seen it," Jemma tapped her temple with her pointer finger before standing. "You make up your own mind."

 

"Hey," Skye called as Jemma walked away, making the Brit glance over her should at Skye. "I don't want anyone to know any of what I told you tonight."

 

"They won't," Jemma replied honestly and Skye's eyes flashed red, like she was trying to figure out if Jemma was lying. 

 

"Come back soon,"

 

"So long as you promise not to _willingly_ get all up inside my head."

 

"Even if I said I wouldn't would you believe me?" Skye asked and this time when her eyes flashed she blinked a few times, shaking her head. This was a time she didn't mean to get inside Jemma's head, that much was obvious, but it looked like she got all the answered she needed. "You trust me?"

 

"To an extent. I wouldn't trust you with my life," Jemma admitted, a playful little grin playing on her lips. "But I trust you not to take it from me, either."

 

"That's probably the most someone has trusted me, other than Lincoln."

 

Jemma smiled, "Don't prove me wrong."

 

"We'll see," Skye hummed, watching Jemma's retreating form. "Oh, and Jemma?"

 

"Yes, Skye?" Jemma spun slowly around in the balls of her feet once she reached the door. 

 

"The Scottish kid, Leo, he hopes that one day Ward will be sorry for what he's done," Skye gently shook her head. "He is never going to be sorry. That guy is twisted, he has no moral compass."

 

"You know Ward?"

 

"I met him briefly, I was bored and decided to have a little poke around inside his head." Skye frowned, "I've never been inside a head so fucked up and I've been inside Stark's head."

 

Jemma frowned sadly, chewing on the inside of her cheek. 

 

"That's why I thought I knew you the first day, I saw you in that guys twisted mind. I saw what he done to you and Leo, then I saw the outcome when I met Leo. Brave kid."

 

"Yeah," Jemma breathed. 

 

"Just tell him, ok?"

 

"I'm not sure he will believe you."

 

"Just let him know, he might not trust me but he trusts your judgement and you trust me." Skye shrugged, grinning at the half surprised half impressed look on Jemma's face when she used her power to pick up the bottle of water that was over the other side of the cell. "And can you let Bobbi know that the food here sucks."

 

Jemma chuckled, shaking her head. "No, but I will see about getting you different food. What do you like?"

 

"I don't know, we only ever really got porridge and chicken at that base."

 

"That's all you ate for fifteen years?"

 

"Food was kind of the last thing on our minds." 

 

It didn't go amiss to Jemma that Skye was still using plural pronouns, like she still hasn't come to terms with the fact her brother was gone. That wasn't a surprised to Jemma, having someone in your life for twenty-one years then losing them so quickly and so violently is something someone might not want to deal with.

 

"I'll take care of it, I'll take over the control of your food." Jemma assured. "I'll bring your supper down in a couple of hours."

 

Skye's grin morphed into a little smile, Jemma wasn't sure if it was the fact she had used the word 'supper' or that she had agreed to help her out.

 

"Bye, Skye."

 

"In a bit, doctor Simmons." Skye called back playfully, making Jemma shake her head, somewhat fondly, as she left the room.

 

Jemma hopped up the flight of stairs, smiling at Fitz as he made his way along the corridor towards the lab.

 

"Where you down with Skye?" Fitz asked, a little frown appearing on his face.

 

"I had to talk to her about something," Jemma answered, smiling softly at Fitz. "She told me to tell you something. She met Ward, she told me to tell you he's never going to be sorry for what he did."

 

Worry and embarrassment flashed in Fitz's eyes, like he hated the fact Jemma knew he had been thinking about Ward. "Oh. I don't... Really care."

 

"It is ok if you do, Fitz. He was important to us, I understand." Jemma ran her hand comfortingly up and down Fitz's arm. 

 

Fitz nodded weakly, motioning towards the lab. "Are you going down to the lab?"

 

"Not right now, I'm going to talk to Bobbi." Jemma motioned towards lounge area before walking past Fitz. 

 

"You should really be careful," Fitz warned, causing Jemma to turn around and walk backwards away from her. "I know Skye seems nice enough but I'm not so sure."

 

"I trust her, Fitz." Jemma shrugged, back peddling towards the lounge area. 

 

"How do you know she isn't making you feel that way?"

 

"I don't, Fitz, but I think she is just misunderstood and extremely misguided. Wouldn't you be if you had been raised in a HYDRA base?"

 

"How can you trust someone so easily after... Everything?" Jemma stopped walked, pursing her lips at Fitz. 

 

"Not everyone is like Ward. She may have done what she done to the Avengers but she also helped defeat Ultron, I think she is a good person."

 

Fitz nodded. "Still, be careful."

 

"I will be, don't worry." Jemma flashed Fitz a reassuring smile before spinning around on the balls of her feet and heading towards the lounge.

 

"You look like you are on a mission, Simmons." Bobbi teased, grinning at Jemma from her place leaning against the back of the sofa.

 

"I want to take over control of Skye's meals,"

 

"O-kay," Bobbi said carefully, her eyebrows arched questioningly. "Why?"

 

"She only ever ate chicken and porridge in that HYDRA base. I want to introduce her to some new things."

 

"Again, why?"

 

Jemma shrugged, "Why not?"

 

Bobbi narrowed her eyes, glancing down at Hunter briefly, her questioning eyes returning to Jemma. "Are you ok?"

 

"Yes. She hasn't brainwashed me or anything," Jemma sighed, rolling her eyes at Bobbi.

 

"No but what's going on with you is almost as good as being brainwashed."  Hunter commented, a little grin playing on his lips. "You have a crush on the Scarlet Witch."

 

"Oh, shut up," Jemma huffed. "It is always sexual with you, Hunter."

 

"Tell me I am wrong?"

 

"Please tell me he is wrong."

 

"He's wrong," Jemma practically squeaked incredulously, averting her eyes from Bobbi to glare at Hunter. The idea that Jemma had a crush on Skye was ridiculous. "You're wrong."

 

"Then why have you been going to to see her, letting her get inside your head?"

 

"I've been down twice and I feel sorry for her, ok?" Jemma shrugged, "And so would you guys if you saw what I did. She was _tortured_ , and what I seen was probably nothing in comparison to what she has been through. We shouldn't be treating her like HYDRA did."

 

"Until we know for sure she isn't dangerous we don't have a choice."

 

"You know, it's difficult to convince someone you are the good guys while you have her locked up in a cells," Jemma stated, walking towards the kitchen, glancing back at Bobbi. "Which, just so you know, she could easily get out of. It is adamantium, she destroyed Stark's iron legion."

 

"Then why hasn't she?"

 

"Because she is a decent person," Jemma offered, not looking back as she entered the kitchen.

 

* * *

 

"I didn't think you would've been allowed back down here," Skye commented as Jemma entered the room, her eyes not leaving the cup she had been amusing herself with for the past hour.

 

"I've got food for you,"

 

"What is it?" Skye asked, allowing the cup to drop onto the bed as she sat up and got off the bed.

 

"I thought you knew everything?" Jemma teased, lifting up the little door at the bottom of the cell, because she didn't have the keys to the main door, and slid the plate into the cell.

 

"I promised I wouldn't use my powers on you, remember?" Skye answered distractedly, dipping down to pick up the food.

 

"It's mac and cheese, one of my favorites."

 

"It looks kinda gross," Skye commented, poking at the food with her fork.

 

"It's good, I promise." Jemma swore.

 

Skye looked skeptically but poked her fork into a piece of pasta, bringing the fork up to her lips and slowly chewing on it. 

 

Jemma watched as Skye nodded appreciatively. "Yeah, this is good."

 

Jemma smiled brightly at that. "I'm glad you like it."

 

Skye hummed as she took another mouthful.

 

"I will leave you to enjoy your meal."

 

"Would Bobbi be pissed if I asked you to stay?"

 

"Probably,"

 

"Good," Skye grinned a little. "Then stay. I kinda need the company."

 

Jemma wasn't surprised Skye was lonely, she had spent her entire life with someone by her side, even in that horrible base, and now she had no one. "Ok, sure."

 

"Really?" Skye raised her eyebrows in surprise, watching Jemma as she sat down in front of the glass. "I thought it would've taken a little more convincing."

 

"Why? Because Bobbi doesn't like me coming down here and you think I do every she tells me to do?" Jemma leant her shoulder against the glass, arching her eyebrow somewhat challengingly at Skye. 

 

"Pretty much, yeah." Skye mirrored Jemma's position, sitting down on the opposite side of the glass from Jemma, setting the plate on her lap. 

 

"Have you ever had any kind of dessert?"

 

"Dessert?" Skye chewed on her food, shaking her head. "No. What is it?"

 

"It is just a sweat food, it tastes great, pretty bad for you, though."

 

"All good things are, right?" Skye grinned suggestively. 

 

_Yes. Yes they are._

 

"I will get you some, we have red velvet cake, Fitz made it. He bakes when he's nervous." 

 

"Why is he nervous?"

 

"We have someone who took down the Avengers on our basement, I think his nerves are justified." Jemma offered Skye a playfully little grin. 

 

"Then why aren't you nervous?"

 

"You haven't given me a reason to be,"

 

"Do you want one?" Skye grinned flirtatiously.

 

"Do _you_ want another reason for Bobbi to hate you?"

 

"I don't care how Bobbi feels about me." Skye shrugged.

 

"You haven't given me a reason to be nervous," Jemma repeated, shooting Skye a pointed look. "But you have given me a reason to trust you."

 

"Oh, yeah? And what would that have been?"

 

"Taking care of Ultron, the Avengers wouldn't have been able to do it without your help." Jemma admitted, motioning lazily towards the cell. "You also haven't tried to break out of this, even through we both know you could."

 

"Jemma?" Jemma's head whipped around to the door to see Fitz standing there, eyeing Skye nervously before turning his eyes to Jemma. "You are needed in the lab."

 

"Ok, Fitz, I will be right there."

 

Fitz nodded, opening his mouth as if to say something but decided against it, shaking his head as he turned and left.

 

"Duty calls." Jemma said, groaning as she stood up. "I will have someone bring you some dessert down."

 

"Don't be a stranger, doctor Simmons." Skye teased, her eyes remaining on Jemma's back -and, maybe, _briefly_ , her ass- as she headed towards the door.

 

"Behave yourself, Skye Johnson." Jemma called over her shoulder as she left the room, grinning to herself when Skye laugh followed her out of the room.


	3. Chapter 3

Jemma had gone down to visit Skye at least twice a day for the past week, usually to deliver food but she ended up hanging around for a little while. She also convinced Bobbi to give Skye some crossword and sudoko puzzles to keep her occupied while they had her locked up.

 

Jemma hadn't made it down that morning because Bobbi had gotten hurt pretty badly while on a mission the night before and Jemma had been up most of the night trying to keep her alive. That, combined with Ultron and HYDRA, had easily made this one of the longest weeks of Jemma's life, after the week Fitz was in a coma.

 

Jemma did take Skye down dinner, though, figuring it would be a good way to keep her occupied.

 

"I made you some pizza," Jemma announced as she entered the room.

 

Skye turned on her bed to watch Jemma as her walked over, a little concerned frown playing on her face.

 

Jemma slid Skye's food into her cell and sat down with her back against the glass, resting her back against it. Jemma yawned, resting her head back against the glass.

 

"Long day?" Skye asked as she sat down against the glass, carefully touching one of the three slices of pizza on her plate.

 

Jemma let her head fall to the side to look at the woman on the other side of the glass. "Long week,"

 

"What's going on?"

 

"Just everything. Bobbi got hurt pretty badly, you probably already know what happened." Skye hummed in agreement. Jemma lifted her eyes to look into Skye's, somewhat shocked to see a caring look there. She probably didn't care about Bobbi, they didn't get along, but she probably care about how Jemma was feeling about the whole thing. "It just scared me, I thought Bobbi was invincible."

 

"Is that why you didn't come by this morning?"

 

"Yeah, sorry about that,"

 

Skye shook her head dismissively. "I'm not agent Morse's biggest fan but I can't argue with the fact she is strong. She will be out of the hospital bed and acting like her usual unbearable self in no time, you'll see."

 

"Yeah," Jemma breathed, dropping her eyes to watch her fingers play with the sleeve of her sweater, her 'for a bad day' sweater. She wore this sweater a little to often.

 

"What else is wrong?"

 

"I think HYDRA is coming after us." Jemma whispered, looking up at Skye through her eyelashes. "They're looking for you."

 

"I don't wanna go back," Skye admitted quietly, picking at the pepperoni on top of the pizza.

 

"You wont be, I wont let them take you. The team wont let them."

 

"They have this thing," Skye frowned a little, "I don't know what it is or what it is made of but once they have it on me I can't use my hands. It is like cuffs but it covers both of my hands." Skye looked down at her balled hands. "If they get that on me I can't protect us- me. I can't protect meself- _myself_."

 

A little smile appears on the corner of Jemma mouth, "We wont let then take you. I promise."

 

"And I won't let them hurt you, or your friends."

 

"If I didn't know any better I'd say you cared about us." Jemma teased, grinning playfully at Skye.

 

"You." Skye clarified. "I care about _you_."

 

Jemma was surprised by the bluntness of Skye's confession, and that much must have been obvious from the look on her face because Skye laughed. 

 

"Don't look so surprised, Jemma." Skye said, chewing on a slice of pepperoni. "I don't know your friends well enough to care about them."

 

_That_ was not what had surprised Jemma. 

 

"What's for dessert?"

 

"We have more cake, not the same one as last week but it's still good." 

 

"That cake was my favourite thing you've brought me so far."

 

"I will be sure to tell Fitz that." Jemma said with a little smile, letting her eyes slip closed. "I think he might trust you now. I think they're all coming around."

 

"Even with all those people hating me I've still been treated better here than I ever was with HYDRA."

 

"You won't be in here forever. I'm working on getting everyone to trust you but it's hard, you know? You hurt the Avengers. The Avengers as kinda like the front of this organisation, they mean a lot to people here, they are symbols of hope and you took them down without much thought at all."

 

"I didn't mean too." Skye tried to defend herself, rolling her eyes when Jemma arched her eyebrows disbelievingly at her. "Well, of course I _meant_ to but I didn't really known anything other than what HYDRA had told me and I had seen Stark's name on weapons, weapons used to harm people. And I saw the Hulk hurt people. I thought they were the bad guys but then I saw how they protected citizens during Ultron's attack." Skye explained, resting the side of her head against the glass. "I also saw inside Stark's head, I'm still not entirely convinced he is one of the good guys. But Hulk, he's troubled, the woman, she is too. Mr America misses a girl, Thor thinks he is going to cause the downfall of his people. The whole team is a mess and that's who everyone has put their faith into to save the world."

 

"They work well together, support each other."

 

"They're still a mess."

 

Jemma let out a little hum, her head resting back against the glass as she chewed thoughtfully on her bottom lip. "You got brought in on purpose, didn't you?" Jemma's head fell to the left and she opened her eyes to look at Skye who had her temple resting against the glass, watching Jemma curiously. "There's no way you would have allowed us to bring you in against your will but here you are."

 

"I didn't wanna hurt anyone else so I figured the only way to prevent that would be to go back into a cell, I never hurt anyone when I was in that HYDRA base."

 

"I really want to hug you and tell you it will be ok,"

 

"I don't do hugs, doctor Simmons." 

 

"Have you ever _been_ hugged?"

 

"Of course I have, I have a brother. I don't hug anyone other than him."

 

God, Jemma felt like her heart break a little more every time she heard Skye talk about her brother. Talk about him like he was still here.

 

"You should really go to bed, Jemma, you're exhausted."

 

"Yeah, I think I'm going too have too." Jemma yawned, using what little energy she had to push herself to her feet. "I may come down and see you tonight, depending on what time I wake up at."

 

"As long as you bring me a good breakfast tomorrow I'm not too worried."

 

"So you are just using me for my food."

 

"Also for the accent and that smile," Skye added, grinning flirtatiously at Jemma. "That smile sure helps me deal with being locked up twenty four seven."

 

Jemma smiled, rolling her eyes to try and mask her bashfulness. "I'll say to Fitz about the cake."

 

"Goodbye, doctor Simmons." Skye replied in a singsong voice, and when Jemma glanced back at her she was completely distracted by trying to figure out what was the best way to hold her pizza. 

 

Jemma smiled, somewhat fondly, deciding to let Skye figure this one out for herself. She had been up for almost thirty hours and she needed to sleep. 

 

* * *

 

Jemma sleepily padded down the corridor towards the lounge area, yawning as she pushed her hand into her hair. 

 

She stopped mid-yawn, her hand still buried in her hair when she noticed who was sitting across from a moody looking Hunter. Jemma snapped her mouth closed when Skye turned to look at her, her hand dropping to her side. "Skye, you're out." Jemma frowned, her voice still heavy with sleep. 

 

Skye smiled, mostly at Jemma's bed tousled hair and sleep clouded eyes. "Much to his dismay." Skye grinned, jerking her thumb in Hunter's direction. 

 

Jemma frowned, turning to give Bobbi a questioning look. 

 

"I heard you both talking today." Bobbi shrugged, like that answered Jemma's question. "You trust her. But she is sleeping in your room,"

 

Jemma turned around to look at Skye again, her confusion still clear on her face. 

 

"You were right," Skye hummed, pointing down at the piece of cake she was eating with her fork. "This stuff is so good."

 

Jemma moved to sit down beside Skye, ignoring Hunter when he tutted and got up. 

 

Skye glanced over at Jemma, who was staring over at her like this was the first time she had ever laid eyes on her. "Want some?" Skye held out her fork with a piece of cake on it to Jemma, raising her eyebrows questioningly. 

 

"No. No, that's ok."

 

Skye nodded, eating the piece of cake herself. "This place is nice, the basement really doesn't do it much justice."

 

Jemma chuckled quietly, looking down at the bracelet on Skye's arm. "Was this the conditions of you getting out?" Jemma asked, tapping the monitoring bracelet.

 

"Mm," Skye hummed through a mouthful of cake. "It makes them feel better so I let them put it on."

 

"And you're ok with that?"

 

"Yeah, of course. I don't plan on doing anything wrong so," Skye shrugged, placing her fork down on her now empty plate.

 

"Do you want me to show you the room?" 

 

"Yeah, sure."

 

"Do you have any clothes?" Jemma asked as they stood up. 

 

"Just these and another set of clothes they gave me once I got here."

 

Jemma nodded, her hands sliding into the pockets of her pajama bottoms. "Ok, I will get you more clothes, unfortunately they will be the same as those." Jemma nodded towards the pair of black sweat pants and the long sleeved black shirt with the SHIELD academy logo she was wearing.

 

"What's wrong with these with these clothes?" Skye frowned, looking own at herself.

 

"Well, for what it's worth, you make them look decent."

 

"They're comfortable. Have you ever had to wear them?" 

 

"Only on laundry day when I was in the academy." 

 

"How long have you been here?"

 

"I've been on this team for a little over a year," Jemma answered, pushing through the doors that lead to the corridor of rooms. Jemma remembered thinking the first time she seen this corridor it reminded her a lot of a prison. "But I started the academy when I was seventeen."

 

"What is the academy for? Does it teach you to be an Avenger?" Skye frowned curiously.

 

"No, it is the academy of science and technology. It was the academy that I got my PhD's from."

 

"And those are?"

 

"Degrees. It's my PhD's that give me the title of doctor."

 

"So you aren't a real doctor?"

 

"I am," Jemma nodded. "I have a medical degree, and a biomedical degree."

 

"That sounds fancy,"

 

"It's not all that fancy," Jemma shrugged, pushing the door to her room open, motioning towards the top bunk. "You can be on top." Jemma said, frowning at how the sentence sounded but Skye didn't seem to notice, she just walk over to the bunk beds, pressing her hands into the mattress.

 

"It feels like a cloud."

 

"It is pretty late, I will let you relax, I have to go speak to Bobbi anyway." 

 

"Will you be back? I know you've just woken up but..."

 

"Yeah, I'll be back in a little while." Jemma promised, flashing Skye a little smile before leaving the room.

* * *

 

 

Bobbi was still in the kitchen when Jemma found her. 

 

"Ok, Maria. Yeah, I'll get Jemma to test it once it gets here. Ok, bye." Bobbi hung up the phone and turned to look at Jemma. She didn't look surprised to see Jemma there, she had probably heard her coming. "That was Maria Hill."

 

"Yeah? And what am I testing?"

 

"They found a crate of the blue stuff you seen being injected into Skye. It wasn't super serum."

 

Jemma frowned, leaning her lower back against the counter and crossing her arms. She still hadn't entirely gotten over the pain she had felt during that memory. "What was it?"

 

"Blood." Bobbi answered, a confused little frown appearing on her own face. 

 

"Blood? They were injecting Skye with blood? Why?"

 

"Thor thinks it is Kree blood, you're going to test it once it gets here to see."

 

"What good is that to Skye, though? What would that have done to her?"

 

"We don't know," Bobbi shrugged, leaning against the counter across from Jemma.

 

"It should have killed her." Jemma commented, looking up at Bobbi, opening over at the agent. "Like, logically it should have, right? It is blood from a different species, I couldn't just inject someone with dog blood and expect them to live, that's not how it works."

 

"I know but they must've known. The must know something we don't about that blood, I has to have had some kind of beneficial effect on the experiments they were carrying out."

 

"I can ask Skye."

 

Bobbi nodded. "Make sure you ask her before you do _anything_ with that blood, we don't know what it could do to you."

 

"I'll ask her." Jemma agreed, walking over to Bobbi and reaching up to lift the dressing on the cut of her head, tip toeing to get a better look. 

 

"I'm fine, Jemma. Not invincible," Bobbi said, drawing Jemma's eyes to her own. "But fine."

 

Jemma sighed, fixing the dressing back on Bobbi's head before wrapping her arms gently around Bobbi's bruised torso, tucking her head under Bobbi's chin.

 

Bobbi chuckled, wrapping her arms around Jemma's shoulder and giving her a little squeeze.

 

"So, Skye, huh?" Bobbi muttered against the top of Jemma.

 

"What about her?"

 

"You know what." Bobbi released Jemma as she pulled back, a little grin on her lips at Jemma's confused expression. "Oh, come on. You have a crush on Skye."

 

"What? No I don't. Just because I'm the only one being nice to her doesn't mean I have a crush on her." Jemma scoffed.

 

"That's not why we think you do."

 

" _We_?"

 

"Well, yeah, the entire team has seen how you look at her." Bobbi shrugged. "It's fine, Jem, she's hot, if slightly psychotic."

 

"She isn't psychotic, she is actually a pretty decent person."

 

"Ok, miss I-don't-have-a-crush-on-her." Bobbi teased, grinning when Jemma huffed in annoyance.

 

"Good night, agent Morse."

 

"Behave, doctor Simmons."

 

Jemma rolled her eyes at Bobbi, making her way towards the door. "Oh," Jemma turned back around to look at Bobbi when she remembered she had actually came down here for a reason. "Skye needs more clothes, she can't live with two sets."

 

"No problem, I'll have Hill pick up some from the academy on her way over."

 

Jemma nodded, leaving before Bobbi could tease her more about Skye.

 

When Jemma entered her now shared room Skye was lying on the top bunk, her arms tucked under her head as she stared at the ceiling.

 

"I need to ask you something?"

 

Skye turned her head to look at Jemma, her eyebrows raised questioningly. "Go for it."

 

"The blue stuff they injected you with, did they ever mention what it would do to you?"

 

"No. But they would inject me with it whenever they experimented on me. After the experiments I would feel drained and just like - I dunno- like I just wanted to curl up into a ball and have the ground swallow me up. But then they would take me into that room, you saw what it was like, and hook me up to that stuff." Skye explained, one hand running over her face as she sighed. "I would be sick for a few days after, throwing up, hot and cold sweats, but once that was over I'd be back to normal, better than normal even."

 

"So they injected you with it more than once?" Jemma asked, frowning when Skye nodded. "And it helped with the healing process after the experiments they done on you?"

 

"I don't know, I guess so." Skye shrugged, "Why, anyway?"

 

"They found a crate of the stuff but it isn't super serum like I thought." 

 

"Oh," Skye frowned, sitting up, dangling her legs off the side of the bad. "What is it?"

 

"Blood, Thor thinks it's from a Kree."

 

"A Kree? What the hell is a Kree."

 

"They are a species of humanoids from Hala in the Large Magellinic Cloud."

 

"Aliens? I have alien blood in me?"

 

"Well, if their blood has the same properties as our own, that depends when the last time you were injected. Blood cells live for around one hundred and twenty days so they will die off eventually."

 

Skye shook her head. "I haven't been keeping count the days but it has been at least a half a year since we were injected last. They haven't needed to inject us, we had developed new powers, they were helping us control them."

 

"Then that proves that your powers wont wear off when the blood cells die off." Jemma commented, strolling over to the bunk beds, resting her arms on the mattress just beside Skye. "But that doesn't really help us understand how this blood helped you out, or how your body didn't instantly attack the cells like it would with any other foreign material."

 

"Do you think it could kill me eventually?"

 

"After six months? I doubt it." Jemma leant her cheek on her arm and looked up at Skye. "How does it feel? Knowing what you're capable off?"

 

"Terrifying," Skye answered without having to give it much thought.

 

The was probably the last word Jemma had expected Skye to say. She had expected exhilarating, or powerful but now terrifying.

 

"Why?"

 

"I could level an entire block if I get pissed off, I'm terrified of what I am capable of." Skye admitted, wiggling her fingers as her hands began glowing red. "I can feel like bubbling under the surface, like it is just pushing to come out, and that scares me."

 

"Maybe you just have to let off some steam? Like, people with anxiety sometimes feel better if they work out." Jemma suggested, watching Skye's hands curiously. "Maybe we could set you up with a shooting range of sorts, you could go down there every other day and shoot at some stuff."

 

"At HYDRA they had me shooting at stacks of bricks and that seemed to help." Skye agreed. "Or maybe I was just getting used to my powers."

 

But losing her brother has thrown her back to the beginning. She didn't need to say it but Jemma knew that was the reason.

 

"Well, we can set that up for you."

 

"Thank you," Skye balled up her fist, effectively extinguishing the ball of red, glowing matter that she had conjured up, lifting her eyes to look at Jemma.

 

"Sure, anything I can do to help." Jemma smiled, gently patting Skye's leg as she stepped back. "You should get some sleep,"

 

"Are you heading back out?"

 

"Nah. I didn't get much sleep earlier so I'm going to try and get back to sleep." Jemma ducked into her bed once Skye lifted her legs back up onto her bed. "The bathroom is just through that door there, if you need it."

 

"Ok. G'night, Jemma."

 

"Goodnight, Skye."

 

Jemma heard Skye move around for a couple of seconds before she settled, closing her eyes once she was sure Skye had settled down, it probably wouldn't take her long to get back to sleep, she had only really woken up to go down and see Skye anyway.


	4. Chapter 4

Nightmares were something Jemma had come to expect whenever she closed her eyes. That wasn't to say she had gotten used to them she had just accepted that they would be a part of her life now. 

 

But that seemed to change two night after she had started bunking with Skye. 

 

The nightmare had started off normal, she and Fitz's at the bottom of the ocean, Fitz lying lifeless in her arms but before it could get to the worst part, the part where she would have Ward smirk at her as her shoot ever member of her team while she just sat there and watched, the dream changed. At first it just faded away into nothingness then she was reliving memories of her childhood. 

 

The same thing happened the next night. The nightmare started but never got to finished. Then the night after that the nightmare didn't even get a chance to start. 

 

At first she figured it must have been the comfort of having another person sleeping in the room with her, maybe that had calmed her down enough to stop the silly nightmares. 

 

But she knew that wasn't it when she noticed the bags under Skye's eyes. Jemma didn't need to be a genius to put together what was happening, even if it had taken her two weeks to put it all together.

 

Skye had heard her nightmare the first night and helped her out, searched around in her brain until she found something happy and played it like a goddamn video tape inside Jemma's mind.

 

"You said you weren't going to get inside my head."

 

Skye lifted her head to look at Jemma, her sleepy eyes landing on Jemma as she arched her eyebrows questioningly. "I did,"

 

"Then why are you doing it?"

 

Skye stared at Jemma for a few seconds before nodding, a look a faux innocence spreading across her face. "I don't know what you're talking about,"

 

"I haven't thought about those memories in years, I haven't even thought much about home in a while." Jemma admitted, sitting down at the table beside Skye. "I'm not annoyed that you were in my head I'm annoyed that you are losing sleep to help me."

 

"I don't know what you're talking about," Skye repeated. "But if it did I would say that those were the first good memories I came across. That's if I knew what you were talking about."

 

"Well, do you plan on stopping what you don't know what I'm talking about?"

 

Skye laughed quietly, her drowsy eyes watching her fingers as they skimmed over the surface of the table. "How long have you been having nightmares?"

 

"You know what they're about, I'm sure you can guess."

 

Skye hummed, tapping her finger against the table as she lifted her eyes to look at Jemma. "If I promised to keep you safe would that help ease your anxiety?"

 

"Do you mean it?"

 

"Of course, I wouldn't make a promise that I didn't intent on keeping."

 

Jemma nodded, a ghost of a smile etching it's way onto her lips. "Then, yes, that does ease my worries slightly."

 

"Is there anything else I can do to help?"

 

"Kill Ward?"

 

"You don't want they kind of thing on your conscious."

 

"I think it's something I can deal with."

 

Skye lightly shook her head, her eyes unfocused as a little frown appeared on her face.

 

Jemma watched Skye carefully, gently placing her hand over the back the other woman's, startling her out of her daze. "Sorry,"

 

"No, don't be. I get you wanting him dead, I do, but regardless if he is alive or dead you're safe. Your entire team is safe, I promise." Skye swore, curling her fingers around Jemma's.

 

"I believe you,"

 

Skye smiled at that, staring somewhat shyly over at Jemma.

 

Jemma glanced down at their hands, a realization dawning on her that, really, she should have realized long before now. Hunter way right, Bobbi was right. The looks from Fitz and Tripp were entirely justified. She liked Skye.

 

They are both broken, though, there is no place for a relationship in either one of their lives. Skye had just lost her brother, hadn't even came to terms with the fact he was gone and Jemma still hadn't gotten over everything with Ward and HYDRA.

 

"Hey," Skye murmured softly, gently squeezing Jemma's hand. "Are you ok?"

 

"Yeah," Jemma nodded, tugging a smile onto her lips. "Yes, sorry. I zoned out."

 

"Do you need a hug? That's what Lincoln does whenever I'm upset."

 

Jemma eyed Skye carefully, licking her lips as she turned her body a little more to face Skye. "Skye..."

 

Skye must've known what she was going to say. Maybe she read her mind or maybe it was just written all over her face. "I know what you're going to say. I _know_. It just doesn't feel like he's gone. I don't feel that pain in my chest anymore and I couldn't have gotten over it this quickly."

 

"What do you mean?"

 

"When he was killed I had this heavy pain in my chest but that only lasted two days. I woke up and it was gone, and I know that's not how grieving works, I grieved for my parents, I shouldn't have gotten over it this quickly."

 

"You saw it, Skye. You saw it happen."

 

"I know I did, Jemma." Skye snapped her hand back just before it began glowing red. "And it's killing me knowing that he's gone and I've gotten over it."

 

Jemma eyed Skye hand for a few seconds before lifting her eyes to look into Skye's, sliding her hand over Skye's lap. "Just being it doesn't hurt as much as it did before doesn't mean you're over it."

 

"I just feel like it should hurt more."

 

"He wouldn't want you to be hurting."

 

"It doesn't matter what he wants anymore." Skye answered quietly, her voice laced with pain and yearning. 

 

"Do you want to come down to the lab with me?" Jemma asked because what else was she supposed to say to that? "I'm performing some tests on that stuff they injected you with."

 

"I'm not a scientist,"

 

"You can just come down to keep me company, maybe tell me more about that HYDRA base so we have an idea as to what we're dealing with."

 

"I'll come down and keep you company but I've told you guys everything I know about HYDRA."

 

Jemma nodded, patting Skye's knee before standing up.  "Ok, just come down when you're finished your breakfast."

 

Skye bobbed her head, lifting up one of the four slices of toast that were sitting in front of her. "I'll be down soon."

 

* * *

 

 

"Skye, you can't eat in here." Jemma scolded and Skye froze, her head tilted back and the sour candy strip she was eating dangling from her thumb and pointer finger, with the other end trapped in between her teeth. "And where are you even _getting_ all of the sweets?"

 

"Tripp and Bobbi heard me tell Fitz that I had never tasted candy before so they have been bringing me back whatever candy they can get their hands on," Skye explained, chewing on the piece she had in her mouth, looking down at Jemma who was working on the Kree blood. "These are my favourite."

 

"You really shouldn't be eating in here, we test a lot of dangerous things." Even as she said it Jemma knew it sounded ridiculous, Skye survived the Avengers _and_ Ultron, a little bacteria wasn't going to harm Skye. "You should've even be sitting up there, Fitz will have a fit if he sees you."

 

Skye looked down at the counter she was perched on. "Do you want me to get off?"

 

"I don't mind but just know that if Fitz see you he will tell you to get down."

 

Skye nodded, swinging her legs has she pulled off another bite of her candy. "Have you found anything, doc?"

 

Jemma watched Skye curiously, amazed at how a woman who took down earths mightiest heroes could look so young, so innocent. "I don't really know what I'm supposed to be looking for. The structure of the blood is totally different from our own, which isn't much of a surprise, but the blood cells are kind of like a virus where by they take over a cell and reproduce."

 

"So you don't know why that blood hasn't killed me yet?"

 

"No, but I think I know why it has helped you heal after all the tests they done on you." Jemma said, nudging her head to the left, signalling for Skye to join her beside the microscope. "The radiation should have melted your insides like it probably did to the hundreds of tests subjects before you. And the fact they're reproducing inside you right now means you heal quicker than anyone else."

 

"But it didn't melt my insides," Jemma hummed as Skye came up to stand beside her, stuffing what was left of her candy strip into her mouth. 

 

"Radiation changes the molecular structure your DNA but this blood somehow manages to find the cells that have been effected and kill them, preventing them from undertaking protein synthesis. That's why you would feel sick and lethargic after being injected with the stuff." Jemma explained and Skye watched as she set something up under the microscope. "Then after that first injection they blood helps protect the cells of the body, so I'm guessing, after your first injection you didn't feel as sick when they irradiated you."

 

"Irradiated sound bad."

 

"It is very bad." Jemma agreed, motioning towards the microscope. "Take a look, this is normal cells in with the Kree blood."

 

Skye leant down to look through the microscope lenses. "Are those cells from me?"

 

"No, Fitz. But can you see that the cells are just living peacefully with one and other."

 

Skye nodded. "I guess."

 

"Now, what what happens when it hit it with some UV radiation."

 

Jemma turned on the UV lap and pointed it at the Petri dish. 

 

Skye watched has the blue cells, what she assumed was the Kree cells, enclosed the other cells, as if protecting them. 

 

"What are they doing?"

 

"Protecting Fitz's cells." Jemma chirped excitedly, grinning widely when Skye turned to look at her. "This could be the answer to so many things. Cancer, Parkinson's, immortality."

 

"And that's a good thing?"

 

"For Parkinson's and cancer, sure, but immortality, that could cause a lot of problems. A lot of fighting."

 

"That's what most people want, right? Power, immorality?" Skye asked carefully. 

 

"People want what you have." Jemma said, leaning back against the counter. "You're powerful, if you wanted to you could take down countries, if this power had been given to someone else that's what they might've done."

 

Skye frowned thoughtfully at that, "Where are you from?"

 

Jemma frowned, that wasn't what she had expected Skye to say, "I'm sorry?"

 

"You have a different voice from Bobbi and everyone else. So does Fitz, where are you both from?"

 

Jemma opened her mouth to tell Skye that where she was from wasn't the main issue right now, she had potentially figured out why Skye wasn't dead but decided against it. "We are both from Britain. I'm from England and Fitz is from Scotland."

 

"It's a nice voice, I like it."

 

"Skye," Jemma said softly, gently taking ahold of the woman's hand. "Are you ok?"

 

"You said it's still reproducing inside me, right?"

 

"Yeah," Jemma answered carefully. 

 

"So it could kill me eventually, it could take over every cell in my body."

 

"No, I watched a few samples and not once had the blood cells taken over every cell, they take over just enough to survive. It is like they're thinking, deciding how many cells they will have to take over to produce just enough cells to protect its vessel, which is you. It is amazing."

 

"Why would it protect me?"

 

"Because you are giving it everything it needs to survive, it has no reason to kill you." Jemma answered simple. "That is how life works, it's called mutualism."

 

"I don't know if you're telling me the true or if you're just lying to me because you know I don't know enough to dispute it."

 

"I wouldn't lie to you," Jemma said in ernest and Skye seemed to sense that, giving Jemma a little nod as she smiled softly down at Jemma. 

 

"Thank you," Skye breathed, her eyes running over every inch of Jemma's face, as if she was trying to map every line of the Brits face and imprint it into her mind. "For everything. Ever since I got here you've been nothing but nice to me, even when I was being an brat."

 

Jemma swallowed thickly under Skye's intense gaze. "You don't have to thank me," Jemma ducked her head, averting her eyes to look at anything but Skye. "I could tell you were a good person."

 

"Even after everything your were told,"

 

Jemma nodded, lifting her eyes to look at Skye who seemed to be much closer to her than she had been just a few seconds ago. "Even after that."

 

"Why?"

 

"I don't know." Jemma answered truthfully, her eyes sliding closed when Skye's hand tentatively cupped her cheek, her fingers touching the hair at the base of Jemma's neck. "Skye," She breathed. 

 

"Hum?"

 

Jemma opened her eyes slightly to see Skye staring down at her, her jaw tensed, her thumb stroking Jemma's cheek bone. 

 

"This is ok, right?"

 

Jemma nodded slowly but before Skye could lean in the lab door slid open and Fitz marched in, stopping mid-rant when he saw both women. 

 

"Oh, sorry." Fitz quickly spun around and exited the lab. 

 

"I should," Jemma motioned towards the now closed lab door, taking a step away from Skye as she ran her hand through her hair. 

 

Skye nodded, clearing her throat and stepping to the side to allow Jemma past. "Yeah."

 

"I will see you in a little while," Jemma headed towards the door, stopping just as the door slid opened, turning to look at Skye who was staring down at the floor with a confused little frown on her face. "And Skye?"

 

Skye's head shot up, her eyebrows raised questioningly. "Yes?"

 

"Don't touch anything," Jemma said with a little smile making Skye laugh nervously. 

 

"I won't."

 

Jemma grinned, nodding before turning and leaving. 

 

Fitz was talking animatedly with Bobbi and Tripp when Jemma entered the kitchen but he stopped as soon as he noticed her. "Simmons,"

 

Both Bobbi and Tripp turned to Jemma with a grin. "Doctor Simmons,"

 

"Shut up, guys."

 

"Is it true?" Tripp asked excitedly. "Did you and Skye kiss?"

 

"No, we didn't." Jemma rolled her eyes. 

 

"Were you _about_ to kiss?" Bobbi clarified. 

 

"No. I mean, maybe." Jemma stumbled over her words, tutting when Tripp whistled. "Shut up."

 

"Who knew doctor Simmons had game?" Tripp commented. 

 

"What did you want, Fitz?" Jemma sighed. 

 

"I wanted to tell you about my mission but you were busy," Fitz wiggled his eyebrows, leaning his elbows on the kitchen counter. 

 

"Your right, I was busy. Busy figuring out why Skye isn't dead."

 

"Was the answer on her lips?" Bobbi tried to keep a straight face while teasing Jemma but a little smile broke out on her lips. 

 

"I hate all of you."

 

"Why do you hate us?" Hunter asked as he and Mack entered the kitchen area. 

 

"Jemma kissed Skye." Tripp said, bouncing on his stool like an excited child. 

 

"I did not."

 

"Jemma _almost_ kissed Skye." Bobbi grinned. 

 

"Screw you guys." Jemma huffed, spinning on her heels, ignoring the whistles from her team as she headed back down towards the lab. 

 

Even after telling Skye not to touch anything ,when Jemma entered the lab Skye had one of the lab rats in her hand. "We had ones like you at the base. Though, those one were a little more dirty and had a taste for human skin." Skye muttered to the animal, gently petting the fur in between the rats ears. 

 

"That's Scooby." Jemma said as she walked up to Skye, pointing towards the other rat in the cage. "That's Scrappy."

 

"The ones that we had in our cell at HYDRA used to bite us in our sleep." Skye glanced up at Jemma, a content smile on her lips. "But I like this one."

 

"Yeah, they are nice." Jemma agreed, reaching out to pet the rat. 

 

"Was everything ok?" Skye asked, lifting her eyes from the rat to Skye. 

 

"Yeah. Everything was fine." Jemma nodded, "I'm going to go up to the room and go over some case files. You are welcome to stay down here with the rat as long as you don't lose them or touch anything else."

 

"I promise." Skye swore. 

 

"Ok," Jemma smiled. "Come find me when you're done, we can have lunch or dinner."

 

Skye nodded, her attention fully focused on the little rat in her hand.

 

Jemma smiled at the innocence of it all, reluctantly leaving Skye in favor of looking over case files.

 

* * *

 

Jemma's nightmares came back in full force that night, she almost regretted telling Skye to stop helping her out.

 

Jemma startled awake when she felt herself being gently tugged backwards, her breaths coming out in short, shallow puffs as she tried to calm her erratic heart beat. 

 

"Sh. You're ok." Skye whispered against the back of Jemma's head, tightening her grip around Jemma. 

 

"Skye?" Jemma murmured, feeling herself coming out of her sleepy, and slightly terrified state. Skye hummed, burying her nose in Jemma's hair. "What're you doing?"

 

"You told me not to get inside your head anymore, this is the only way I could think of to make you feel better." Skye answered sleepily. "It's ok, right?"

 

Jemma nodded slowly, allowing Skye's presence and warmth calm her down. 

 

"Is it the same dream?" Skye asked quietly, running her hand up and down Jemma's forearm. 

 

"It's always the same dream." Jemma sounded just as exhausted as Skye felt. 

 

Skye sighed, running her hand up Jemma's arm until she could lacing their fingers together just under Jemma's chin. 

 

"Let me help," Skye whispered against the back of Jemma's head. 

 

"No," Jemma breathed back, her hand clutching onto Skye's. "At least not like you have been, you have been exhausted recently. But this, this is nice."

 

"Ok. This I can do." Skye agreed, giving Jemma a little comforting squeeze. 

 

Jemma turned to face Skye, her hands gripping onto the itchy SHIELD academy shirt as she sighed contently. 

 

"You wanna see something?"

 

"Sure," Jemma agreed, looking sleepily up at Jemma. 

 

"I'll have to get inside your head."

 

Jemma swallowed, remembering the last time she had shown her something but nodded anyway.

 

"This one wont hurt," Skye promised and Jemma just noticed Skye's glowing hand before she closed her eyes.

 

Jemma could feel head on her right temple then the sound of Skye breaths seemed to fade away and a vision of a beautiful sandy, beach.

 

_"Skye," She turned around just in time to catch a boy running at her. He was young, maybe around seven years old, with messy, sea tousled blond hair and excited blue eyes. "Look,"_

_She looked down at what the boy was holding out to her, a golden starfish. "Where did you find this?"_

_"On a rock, come over, there are loads." The boy took off towards the rock, and she quickly followed._

_"You can both go down later, dinner is ready." Both of them stopped running, the boy sighing as he quickly rushed over to set the starfish back where he had found it._

_"Race you," The boy grinned happily, running off towards the house the voice had came from._

_She stalled just as she was entering the glass doors, it shouldn't really have been a surprise to her that the reflection staring back at her was a young Skye, she was seeing this memory through Skye's eyes after all._

_The memory began falling away just as she sat down at the table across from a woman, the boy she had just been playing with perched on the chair beside her._

 

Jemma blinked a few times as she came out of the memory, giving Skye a questioning look. "Your mum and brother?"

 

Skye nodded, her hand moving from Jemma's temple to run through the Brit's hair. "That was the last good memory I had with them before HYDRA took us."

 

"You were cute when you were a kid."

 

"You say that like I'm not cute now."

 

Jemma laughed softly, shaking her head. "That's not what I said."

 

"I want to go back to Hawaii," Skye whispered, ghosting her finger down Jemma's jawline. "To see if my mom is still there, to tell her we're still- _I'm_ still alive."

 

"We can do that." Jemma nodded, closing her eyes of the sensation of Skye's fingers running down her jawline, her thumb ghosting down the side of Jemma's nose. Jemma's eyes opened slowly when she felt Skye's thumb trace Jemma's lower lip.

 

"You're very pretty, you know?" Again, Skye reminded Jemma of a child. There was nothing sexualized about the way Skye had said it, not like another other time a man, or a woman, had told her she was pretty. It was innocent, purely said as a compliment, to make Jemma feel good, to make her feel beautiful.

 

"Thank you," Jemma whispered, taking ahold of Skye's hand when it dropped from her face, playing with the woman's fingers. "So are you."

 

"Can I kiss you?"

 

Jemma swallowed nervously, nodding jerkily. 

 

Skye licked her lips, leaning across the pillow taking Jemma's bottom lip between own and, God, Jemma almost melted at how sweet it was. It was innocent and tentative and probably Skye's first kiss.

 

"Was that your first kiss?" Jemma whispered once Skye pulled back, slowly opening her eyes to look over at her.

 

"My first real kiss, yeah." Jemma didn't know what that meant but she felt like it was a bad idea to ask, that it was something neither of them wanted to talk about, not right now.

 

Jemma nodded, her hand landing on Skye's cheek as she leant up to press a lingering kiss on Skye's forehead.

 

Skye was smiling when Jemma pulled back, her hand moving to run up and down Jemma's back.

 

"Do you feel better?"

 

"I do," Jemma hummed, resting her head back against the pillow, her hand moving to play with the hair at the base of Skye's neck. "Thank you for this."

 

Skye nodded, closing her eyes as she yawned sleepily. "It's no problem."

 

Jemma tucked her hands under her chin, smiling when Skye shuffled closer to her, her fingers tracing Jemma spine.

 

Jemma's slipped into a dreamless sleep, comforted by the sensation of Skye's hand on her back and the little puffs of air escaping the woman's lips.

 


	5. Chapter 5

"Hey," Jemma jumped at the sudden noise, almost dropping the sample she had in her hands.

"Skye!" Jemma squeaked, setting the universal down and lightly slapping Skye's arm. "How did you get in here without me hearing you?"

"You were concentrating," Skye shrugged, leaning her hip against the counter beside Jemma. "I woke up and you were gone. I got worried."

Jemma tutted, turning to slid her hand up Skye's neck, the other gripping onto the table edge as she pushed herself up onto her toes to press a firm kiss on Skye's lips.

Skye's eyes were closed when she pulled back, her hands holding lightly on to Jemma's lab coat.

"What were you worried about?"

Skye shook her head, opening her eyes to look down at Jemma. "Nothing, now."

"I had work to do and I didn't want to wake you." Jemma explained, gently massaging the back of Skye's neck.

"I thought maybe you slept on it and decided last night was a mistake."

"No," Jemma shook her head, smiling reassuringly up at Skye. "But I need you to tell me if anything is ever too much, ok? I wouldn't want you doing anything you don't want too."

"I'm not sure of a lot of things anymore," Skye admitted, her fingers running up and down Jemma's spine like she done last night. "But if there is one thing I am sure of it is that you're special to me."

Jemma smiled at that, sliding her arms around Skye's neck, pulling the woman into a hug.

Skye wound her arms tightly around Jemma, her hands splaying out across Jemma's ribs. "Things that are important to me usually end up destroyed." Skye whispered against Jemma's ear.

"I'm a lot tougher than I look."

"I don't doubt that," Skye agreed.

"Let me finish this and then we can relax for the night. I can introduce you to the painfully wonderful world of Disney."

"Can we have cake?"

Jemma chuckled, pulling back with a nod. "Yes, there is some cake upstairs."

"Then it's a date." Skye agreed, stepping back out of Jemma's personal space, both of the woman's arms falling to their sides. "Can I hang around down here? I'm still not totally comfortable with everyone else."

"Of course. This shouldn't take long."

Skye nodded, moving to sit down on the table just off to Jemma's left

 

* * *

 

 

"This is about an elephant?" Skye asked, sliding her arm around the woman's shoulders as she sat down beside Skye.

"With big ear,"  Jemma clarified, settling down against Skye's side.

"With big ears," Skye repeated thoughtfully. "And that's it?"

"There's more to it than that. It's about how people will treat you differently if you don't fit into their definition of normal."

"What one are we going to watch after this?"

"The jungle book."

"Is that one about animals, too?"

"Partially, there is a human lead."

Skye nodded, running her hand up and down Jemma's arm.

Skye didn't cry at either one of the movies -but that didn't surprise Jemma, Skye didn't strike her as a crier- but she did comfort Jemma when she cried at Dumbo.

"Why are you crying?" Skye asked, her hands hovering awkwardly in midair while she tried to figure out what to do. She eventually settled for setting her hang on Jemma’s cheek, catching the stray tears with the pad of her thumb. 

"Because she was locked up away from him," Jemma sniffed. It was ridiculous, she knew that, but she had always been a sucker for Disney movies.

"But she got locked up protecting him, that's kind of beautiful, right?"

For someone who had been through what she had, Skye sure had a knack for finding the sliver lining of a situation, which was probably something she had to do to get by. When Jemma had watched this with Fitz and cried he had just straight up told her that it was a cartoon, she shouldn't be crying at it.

"It shows that you should do what's right, even if you end up locked up for it."

Jeez, Jemma really had picked the one movie the mirrored Skye's life remarkably well.

"Yeah, I guess." Jemma agreed, glancing up at Skye to see the woman's eyes firmly rooted on her. "What?"

Skye pulls a face and shrugs. "Nothing,"

"Then watch the movie," Jemma orders, but she is smiling as she leant her cheek back against Skye's chest.

"But I like watching you."

"The movie is much more interesting."

"Debatable."

Jemma tilted her head back a little to look up at Skye. "Watch the movie."

"Fine," Skye pouted as she looked from Jemma to the TV. "But I won't be happy about it."

"You saving the world from a genocidal robot and you're  _pouting_?"

"I'm sorry, I can't talk I'm watching a movie." Skye replied and Jemma can't help but laugh at how childish it sounded.

Skye lasts all of five minutes before she is staring down at Jemma again.

 

* * *

 

 

"Why are you staring at me?" Jemma huffed, throwing her hands up as she turned looked at Skye who was sitting at the table over in the corner, her chin in her hands as she stared over at Jemma like a fascinated toddler.

"What're you talking about?" Skye asked, like she wasn't still staring at Jemma like Jemma held the answers to all the questions Skye could ever think to ask.

" _That_  is what I'm talking about." Jemma motioned towards Skye who shrugged lazily.

"You're nice to watch," Skye answered, "Not just because you're beautiful but it is just fascinating to watch you."

"Well, it is distracting."

" _You_  are distracting," Skye grinned, reaching out to gently take ahold of Jemma's wrist, pulling the Brit to sit down on her lap.

"I have work to do." Jemma attempted to argue but didn't make any attempts to get up, instead she linked her hands behind Skye's neck.

Skye's hand made its way around to Jemma's back, her finger running down the bumps on Jemma's spine while the other hand landed on Jemma's thigh. "You need a break,"

"You mean you want me to kiss you until someone comes in and tells me to get back to work?" Jemma arched her eyebrows challengingly at Skye, making the woman grin cheekily.

"Well, if you insist, doc." Skye craned her neck, smiling against Jemma's lips when the Brit readily kissed her back, despite her attempts at pretending to be annoyed.

Jemma tilted her head slightly, her hands pulling at Skye's neck as her jaw loosened and her tongue slipped past Skye's lips.

"Really? In the lab?"

Jemma sighed at the voice, her head falling against Skye shoulder. "Well, that happened quicker than I thought it would've."

Skye pressed her kiss to the side of Jemma's head as she watched Bobbi attentively. With Bobbi bringing Skye back candy whenever she went out on a mission Skye seemed to have been conditioned to perk up when she sees Bobbi.

"I wanted to talk to both of you."

That pulled Jemma's attention away from Skye, turning her head to look at Bobbi who was leaning against the work bench across from them.

"Is everything ok?"

"Yeah, everything is fine. I wanted to see what Skye thought about becoming a part of the team?" Bobbi said nonchalantly.

"Like, an agent?" Skye asked with a little frown, glancing down at Jemma who was still staring over at Bobbi, somewhat shocked by this. It wasn't all that long ago that Bobbi couldn't even stand the thought of Skye and now she was asking her to join the team.

"Like an agent." Bobbi confirmed. "You need a little bit of training but I can help you out with that, kind of like a mentor."

Skye glanced at Jemma again when the Brit turned to look at her. "What do you think?"

"It's not my choice but I think it would be good. You would be a part of the team. Do you want to?"

"Yeah, I've never been a part of a team before. Well, a good team." Skye replied, lifting her eyes to look at Bobbi. "Will there be candy?"

"Yes, Skye." Bobbi chuckled, nodding her head. "There will be candy."

"I want to," Skye nodded. "But I'm not sure if I can still control this," Skye held up her glowing red hand, "It is a little unpredictable right now."

"We will work on that, too." Bobbi agreed, "We will help you with anything you need."

"Do you think HYDRA will come after me?" Skye asked, hiding the lower half of her face against Jemma's shoulder.

"It is more than likely that they're hunting you but they wont get to you."

Skye nodded, "When do we start?"

"I have to head over to the academy right now but I will come find you tomorrow morning." Bobbi answered, pushing herself off the work bench. "Oh, and girls," Bobbi turned back to the couple, arching her eyebrows as she waved her hand towards them. "This is fine but just try to keep it out of the lab, we don't want to scar poor Fitz."

Jemma nodded, a little embarrassed at having been caught, even if they weren't doing anything too graphic.

"You've gone all red," Skye whispered against Jemma's ear as the door slid closed behind Bobbi.

"Bite me," Jemma grumbled, squeaking when Skye nibbled on her ear lobe. "Skye!"

"I was just following orders,"

Jemma rolled her eyes at Skye's smug little grin, picking up Skye's hand that was on her lap and fiddling with her fingers. "You're going to be an agent."

"You will have to respect me, call me agent Skye. Do every. Little. Thing. I. Say." Skye pronounced, moving her fingers up Jemma's back in a walking motion.

"I don't think that's how it works," Jemma disagreed, rubbing her nose against Skye's.

"Don't contradict me," Skye whispered against Jemma's lips, a little grin still playing on her lips. "I'm an agent."

"You aren't yet. But I am so you have to do as I say."

"And what would you like me to do, agent Simmons?" Skye asked, kissing Jemma's bottom lip briefly before pulling back a few inches.

"I want you to allow me to do my work."

"That's something I can't do, you are far to distracting."

"So it's my fault?"

"It is. You should be sorry and you should make it up to me by allowing me to cuddle you until one of us has to pee."

Jemma's shoulders shook with laughter as Skye wrapped her arms tightly around Jemma. "If you let me do what little work I have left to do we can go cuddle for as long as you want."

"Ok, deal." Skye agreed, holding on to Jemma's right cheek as she placed a kiss on her left one. "Now go, do your thing."

"Will you stop watching me while I work?" Jemma questioned as she stood up.

"That is like asking someone to not stare at that important painting Fitz was watching a show about."

"The mona lisa?"

"Probably." Skye waved her hand dismissively. "Anyway, that's not the point. Do you think it is appropriate to ask people not to stare at that?"

"You are comparing me to one of the greatest works of art to ever exist?" Jemma glanced over her shoulder as she settled her goggles on her nose.

"I know, it just doesn't seem to do you credit," That was not what Jemma meant, and she turned around to tell Skye as much but Skye was staring at her with that same look she had earlier and Jemma couldn't really bring herself to say anything.

 

* * *

 

 

Ever since Skye had started sleeping in with Jemma, wrapping her arms securely around her, like she was afraid one day Jemma might just leave, Jemma had been having dreamless sleeps, which was something she had come to treasure. That was until one night a completely new and foreign dream began building in her mind.

She was on her back, her hands and feet bound by metal cuffs that, no matter how hard she tugged, only seemed to be getting tighter.

It was the pain the followed after that made Jemma realise that this probably wasn't a dream.

It was excruciating, like having a thousand volts of electricity pumped through her body. She could feel all the muscles in her body tense and her teeth were clenching together of hard that she was sure her molars were going to just crumble.

It was Skye, it had to have been, it had to have been one of Skye's old memories.

But then she was being sat up and, at first, her head hung limp, all the energy in her body having been completely diminished by whatever tests they had just subjected her too. Then someone grabbed her jaw, lifting her head up, probably to check if she was alive, and she caught her reflection in one of the windows.

And she, well, she wasn't a she at all. She was a he. A man with dirty blond hair and strong features. Features that very much reminded Jemma of Skye.

"You ready for one more round, Luke?  Or are you ready to tell us exactly what you know about the Avengers and just  _where_  they would be keeping your sister?" The man asked.

"Go fuck yourself." Like grumbled, her voice rough and slow.

"If that's how you are going to be," the man tutted.

She -well, Lincoln?- was thrown back, another wave of electricity jolted through his body causing him to release a bloody curdling scream just before the memory seemed to fade.

Jemma gasped as she came out of the memory, breathing heavily as she sat up in bed, quickly turning to Skye was was still lying down but her eyes were wide open, her chest heaving. "What  _was_  that?"

"You saw it too?"

"Yes, Skye, you were the one who put it in my head. Why? Why did you think I had to see that?"

"I did- It wasn't on purpose, Jemma." Skye pushed herself to sit up, her back pressed against the wall as she ran her hands over her face. "And that wasn't a memory, I've never been- he was never..."

“Babe, breathe.” Jemma positioned herself beside Skye, her hand gently rubbing the woman's thigh. "It could've just been a dream.”

"Yeah," Skye breathed, though she didn't seem entirely convinced.

"What are you thinking?"

"Nothing,"

"Hey," Jemma said softly, sliding her hand up to Skye's cheek to turn the woman's head to look at her. "Talk to me."

"That wasn't a memory but it didn't feel like a dream either," Skye started, shaking her head. "It doesn't matter."

"No,  _what_?"

"Even before all of this, when we were back in Hawaii, I always knew what Lincoln was thinking, it was some kind of weird twin thing."

Jemma understood what Skye was saying, her fingertips tracing patterns along Skye's thigh. "You think that's happening now?"

Skye gave a meek little nod, unable to look at Jemma, worried that the woman was judging her. "I know it's stupid."

Jemma wasn't so sure. Lincoln had been killed but it wasn't like someone being brought back to life was completely unheard of. "I will ask Bobbi what she knows tomorrow,"

Skye looked at Jemma through her eyelashes, "You believe me?"

"I believe that you believe that's the case," Jemma answered truthfully. "I'm not sure if it is just wishful thinking on your part but I will find out."

"Did it hurt you, too?" Skye asked quietly, like she was afraid of the answer she was no doubt going to receive.

"Yeah."

"I'm so sorry."

"It's not your fault," Jemma assured, slipped her hand under Skye's, sliding her fingers in the space in between Skye's. She then leant over to press her lingering kiss to Skye's temple before resting her forehead there. "Lets go to the lounge, yeah? I don't think either one of us will be able to fall back asleep."

"Can you make tea?" Skye asked, turning her head to look at Jemma. "I feel like this is a tea moment."

"This is a tea moment," Jemma agreed, pecking Skye on the lips before patting her lap. "Come on then."

Both woman climbed out of bed, Jemma making a b-line for her dresser, digging around until she found her 'bad day' sweater.

"Here," Jemma placed the folded green sweater into Skye's hands.

Skye rubbed her fingers on the fuzzy green fabric, looking questioningly up at Jemma. "What's this?"

"It always makes me feel somewhat better when I'm down,"

Skye nodded, unfolding the sweater and pulling it over her head.

Skye covered her mouth with her sweater covered hands as she and Jemma walked down to the lounge, taking in a deep breath and inhaling the scent of Jemma, no sweet perfume or flowery shampoos just Jemma. If anything was going to ease her, even if only a little bit, it was that.

Skye sat at the table while Jemma made the tea, the cuffs of the sweater still pressed against her mouth as she went over and over the dream she had just had.

Skye startled when she felt a set of arms slide around her shoulders from behind. Her eyes focused to see that there was two cups of steaming tea in front of her.

"If he is out there we will find him, darling." Jemma swore, kissing the back of Skye's head.

"I know you will," Skye smiled back at Jemma as she stood, grabbing both mugs and walking over to the sofa, setting the cups down on the coffee table and sat down.

Jemma got the sense to follow Skye, attempting to sit down beside the woman, only to have her lightly tug on her wrist until Jemma was sitting down on her lap, one of Skye's arms wrapped around her back while the other was resting over her lap.

Jemma didn't put up and kind of fight, reaching over to pick up Skye's mug, handing it to the woman before grabbing her own.

"You know," Jemma muttered as she settled back against Skye, her head resting in the crook of Skye's neck. "I think you might be right. That kind of pain can't come from a dream."

"I know."

The girls finished their tea before settled back on the sofa, Jemma curled up on Skye's lap as she played with the collar of her sweater. "This looks good on you,"

"It's comfortable." Skye replied, sleepily brushing her nose against Jemma's temple. "It smells like you."

"That's a good thing?"

"Yeah. It's comforting."

"Good," Jemma whispered, running her fingertips up and down Skye's neck.

"Lincoln would love you, you know?" Skye muttered against the top of Jemma's head, her fingers tracing the bumps on Jemma's spine like that had done any other time they cuddled like this. "He was always poking around at stuff when we were kids, he was always curious about everything, wanted to know how it all worked. Mom said he was going to be a scientist, and I think he would've been, too, if HYDRA hadn't happened. He had this microscope that he used to use on bugs until mom told him to stop."

"I done the same," Jemma admitted with a little chuckle. "I created a miniature ecosystem but the dog smashed it and there was insects all over the house. After that I wasn't allowed to do any kind of science experiments in the house."

"And now look at you," Skye gently squeezed Jemma, pressing a kiss to the woman's head. "Working with earths mightiest heroes."

"As far as my parents know I work in a university lab in Connecticut."

"They don't know?"

Jemma shook her head lazily against Skye's collarbone. "I wasn't allowed to tell them what I really do."

"That's understandable." Skye hummed, running her fingers through Jemma's hair. "You can go back to sleep, I'm not planning on sleeping so you won't have any more nightmares."

"It wasn't your fault." Jemma breathed sleepily, her fingers curling around the collar of the sweater Skye was wearing.

Skye just hummed against the top of Jemma's head, running her hand through the Brit's hair until she fell asleep.

Skye decided to turn the TV as a way of trying to distract herself, which, as it turns out, she didn't really need because Jemma seemed to be distracting enough to hold her attention until morning when Bobbi came looking for her.


End file.
